US team develops process to turn biomethanol into premium fuels

Global efforts to develop climate-friendly fuels received a boost on Monday with a team of researchers from a United States lab finding a cost-effective way to convert biofuels derived from plants into premium fuels such as high octane petrol and aviation fuel.

In a study published in Nature Catalysis journal , researchers from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US said that they have devised a cheaper method to produce high-quality hydrocarbon fuels like high-octane petrol from biofuels.

Though replacing petroleum-based fuels with cleaner biofuels is the way forward, there are a number of challenges in converting biomethanol into premium fuels. The technologies that exist today rely on multi-step processes and high temperatures, which drive up the cost. Moreover, they produce lower-grade fuel, that too in very small quantities to be competitive enough to challenge the dominance of fossil fuels, which are implicated in global warming.